The Basement Top 10 of 2012

We have a few repeats this year.   We must be getting predictable in our old age.

1		Модест Петрович Мусоргский – Promenade
2		Harry Nilsson – Good Old Desk
3		The Magnetic Fields – Three-Way
4		Swell Maps – Read About Seymour
5		Harry Nilsson – Puppy Song
5		Harry Nilsson – Rainmaker (Mono Single Version)
7		The Killers – All These Things That I've Done
7		Ian Hunter – Fuss About Nothin'
9		The 101'ers – Keys To Your Heart (Version 1)
10		The Flaming Lips – Turn It On

The Hard Sport or The There Is No Can't Edition

This latest chapter in my sports adventures is my husband's fault.  He's at least partially responsible for hockey, too, but I think I can put Cross Fit all on him.  One of his personal trainers at our gym had left to work at something called "Cross Fit".  "You should try it," he said.   "Have you called Cross Fit yet?" he would ask.  I blew him off.  I ran 3-4 miles a day most days of the week.  I played sports.  What did I need with this Cross Fit?

I am a weekend warrior.  I used to run 40 miles a week and even ran the marathon in Detroit in 1999 in a middling 4 hour 20 minute time.  Then I discovered team sports, and my mileage dwindled as I fell first in love with soccer then hockey, playing as much as possible as many days a week as I could.  The gym was for winter, when I couldn't run outside or when I went through one of my "weight lifting" phases when I'd use the weight machines a couple times a week.  But team sports were where my heart was.  I loved the thrill of the game - the winning or losing with my friends, and solo sports had lost their appeal.

"Try Cross Fit," my husband kept saying.   So I called.  And showed up at a converted industrial building, now a gym unlike anything I'd ever seen before, at 7am one Friday in early July to meet with an instructor who would take me through an "introductory session".  I thought "How hard can this be?"  Little did I know, 12 hours later I would barely be able to move.

We did some stretches.  We did some sit ups.  Some push ups.  Some rowing (that, at least, I could do).  I attempted a pull up.  It was hot, humid, miserable.  We went through some barbell skills.  I think there were kettle bell swings, maybe some wall ball throws.  I was terrible.

But I went back.  And back.  Then I sprained my ankle.  And I took two weeks off.  Then I went back. I kept going back even when my arms would shake with exhaustion and  I wanted to crawl into a ball in the shower after a work out.  I kept going back even when I was the least coordinated and oldest person in class and when I wasn't sure if I could make it through a work out.

And now I'm not terrible.  I'm not great.  I'm not even good.  But I think I've moved beyond terrible.  I can dead lift 125 pounds.  I can push press 65.  I can "double under" with a jump rope, do banded pull ups, do 10 "real" pushups in a row.  I am a decent rower.  I can jump on and off  a 20 inch box.  I can flip a big tire (my husband thinks that is the coolest thing).

I have learned so much beyond how to do a clean and jerk or a dead lift.  One of the instructors once told me "no one is going to do those burpees for you".   I actually look at many things in life that way, now.  No one is going to do the tough stuff for me, so I might as well just get it done.  And if I need to chip it out into small chunks; it is best to get the biggest chunk done first.

Cross Fit has taught me there is no "can't".  When you walk in for a class, the work out is on the board.  I have frequently thought "I can't do that."  But invariably, I do the work out.  I get through it.  It isn't always pretty, but I get through it and feel better for it.  So what if it is hard?  If it were easy I wouldn't want it so badly.  And I wouldn't feel nearly so good once I've done it.

And even though it is an individual sport where you mostly compete against yourself  by getting a better time or lifting more weight or getting more reps in, Cross Fit feels something like a team.  We encourage each other, commiserate over a tough work out, and help clean up each others' equipment after a class.

I haven't really lost any weight, but I'm smaller.  I have new muscles.  I can skate harder.  Run faster.  I feel great.

"Try Cross Fit," my husband said.  I did, and now I'm hooked.

Brushing the dust off....

Well, that was quite a gap.   In the interim, the sprained ankle has healed, the hockey season has started (at least for my rec teams and for Michigan),  I've fallen in love with cross fit, we went to San Diego and New York City,  many batches of chili have been made, I got a promotion at work, the cold frame is up, and winter is here.  In the past, I would have said so much has happened.

But a college friend passed away this week.   A wickedly smart, funny friend that I hadn't seen in a few years and now I never will see again.  A friend I am determined to remember as I knew him in college and not in the casket I saw him in this week.  I am faced with a friendship that, because of the "busyness" of life, I let slip.  And I so regret that.

5 years can go by in a heartbeat.  10 years in a few breaths.  I want to slow my heart rate and my breathing down to a crawl.

And so I brush the dust off my blog once again in hopes of slowing down my life and focusing on the good stuff.  The small stuff.  The take a walk after dinner stuff.  The get together for lunch or for coffee  stuff.   The best girlfriend coming into town for a night stuff.  The sit in the backyard with your Dad stuff.  The hang out with your cats stuff.

The stuff that matters in life. 

Ankle Sprain - The Sidelined during the Summer Edition

I twisted my ankle at a drop in hockey game a couple weeks ago.  A totally accidental fall, combined with an apparent failure to lace my skate up quite tight enough, and I was out of commission for a couple weeks.  I skated this morning at another drop in.  After about 50 minutes, I could feel my ankle start to get a little tired, so I stopped.  But there is no pain, just a little tightness which I figure is normal after all.   The body's ability to heal itself never ceases to amaze me.

That said, I learned a few things during this experience which I'm going to try to remember, going forward.

1.  Flip flops are not real shoes.  As cute as they are, they give absolutely no support.  I think I did myself a disservice in the healing process by wearing flip flops for a few days because they were the only shoes I could fit my foot into.  Next time (please, no) I will go buy a cheap pair of sneakers a size or two too big and suffer the style points.

2.  It takes real determination to get out of bed in the morning when the first thing you are going to do (take a step) will cause you to experience pain and discomfort.  My pain was temporary.  There are a lot of people out there who deal with pain daily and my respect for those folks increased exponentially.

3.  There is no shame in going up and down stairs on your behind.  At least at home.

4.  If you can't walk normally, getting ready to go to work takes at least half again as long as a normal day.

5.  Your non-athletic coworkers will have amazingly unhelpful things to say to you.  For example,
"Oh, did you get a boo-boo", or "Well, I guess you're done for while" or "At your age, that's going to take a while to heal".  Pay them no mind.  They know not what they say.

6.  If you need to drown your sorrows, you can't do much better than Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie ice cream with caramel sauce.

7.  Ibuprofen is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy (apologies to Ben Franklin).

8.  The ability to walk down a flight of stairs without hanging on to something or bringing both feet together on each step is under-appreciated.

9.  Patience.  Patience.  Patience.

10.  It is almost as much fun to cheer for your team as to play with them.  Almost.

Happy 16th Birthday to the Itty Bitty Kitty

14 years ago today, a matted, oily white kitty meowed at the window of our first floor apartment.   My future husband let him in, and we became the proud people of an amazing cat.  We tried out and discarded several names, and our new friend became known as the Itty Bitty Kitty, or Itty Bitty for short.  We took him in to the vet, who estimated his age at two years.  We count July 8 as his birthday and anniversary.   IBK loves olives, turns his nose up at tuna fish, and likes nothing better than to keep us company in our backyard.  Many happy returns, old friend.

Happy 40th Anniversary Title IX

Happy 40^th Anniversary Title IX.   I celebrated by spending my weekend on the soccer field and the hockey rink playing the games that I love with some amazing women.   Thank you, Title IX, for making this possible.

Spring Pasta with Peas and Asparagus

8 oz penne or fusilli pasta
1/4 cup fresh peas, shelled
1 cup asparagus, rinsed and chopped into 1 1/2 - 2 inch pieces
4-5 garlic scapes, rinsed and chopped
10 walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt
2 cups spinach, rinsed and thick spines removed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 - 1/2 cup pasta water

Heat over to 350 degrees and toast pine nuts for 15 minutes or until golden

Prepare pasta according to package directions.  Make sure to salt your pasta water.  Add the peas and asparagus for the last 4 minutes of cooking.  Drain and return to the pot.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the scapes, spinach, walnuts, olive oil and salt to taste until well mixed.  I use about 1 tsp of salt.  Add the pasta water until the pesto is still very thick, but saucy enough to coat the pasta.  Toss with the pasta in the pot.

Serve in two bowls, each topped with half the pine nuts and cheese.